Garbage App

[Zinjanthropos]

Have heard Waste Management has an app so people can view online the location of the garbage truck. Why is that important? Here in Niagara we are told to have garbage & waste out at the curb by 8am. No problem except that when there’s inclement weather, there’s a very good chance anything loose in bins like recyclable material can either be blown out of its bin or the bin itself goes flying down the road.

Happens a lot here where I live. Most people put trash out before going to bed whereas I try to time it for the morning. Even if I put trash out by 8 am there’s no guarantee when pickup will occur. Could sit there for hours and if windy, not good. Live very close to a creek that feeds the Niagara River and many times trash originally destined for a landfill ends up in the creek and eventually the river.

Wind is strong here and today no exception. I have to put the trash out. Miss and it accumulates for another week. Other than building a curbside shed there’s nothing stopping Mother Nature. I don’t think they allow structures close to street anyways, especially if wind can tear it apart. Good luck finding your bins later in day if not home when collected. Seems totally unnecessary to go through this angst practically every week.

So why can’t it be law for garbage pickup trucks to have location trackers online? I think of the beautiful Niagara River, the thousands upon thousands of visiting migratory birds, some of the best fishing and diving sites in North America, boating and recreation and not to mention a tourist attraction. Wouldn’t an app at least help stop polluting from people who had no intention of doing so?

[stryder]

I'd say it's mostly down to cost. Any collection service is doing so with a tight budget, increasing the budget would be fine but that then falls on paying more tax to get it done.

That being said locally our council had a side line project run with one of the local phone companies, they fitted wifi snooping devices to the trucks to identify where there was strong connections and blackspots to aid them in working out how to further configure their network for better coverage. (I don't think they went as far as exploit metrics in regards to outdated wifi hubs)

Therefore if other services are tied into the collection service (like spotting potholes), it allows money to be spent on additions to that service, but it's finding the right synergy.
I guess there is the post service too, however might put your letters in the wrong slot and it gets crushed by a machine :/

[C C]

[...]Wind is strong here and today no exception. I have to put the trash out. Miss and it accumulates for another week. Other than building a curbside shed there’s nothing stopping Mother Nature. I don’t think they allow structures close to street anyways, especially if wind can tear it apart. Good luck finding your bins later in day if not home when collected. Seems totally unnecessary to go through this angst practically every week.

So why can’t it be law for garbage pickup trucks to have location trackers online? [...]

There are companies that provide local garbage services and sanitation departments with the ability to track their own trucks. You'd think they would also provide the latter with the ability to place a customer version of that on their websites. But as Stryder says, the cost is probably a deterrent when it comes to small town and countryside trash collection operations.

When it comes to rural pick up of waste, dogs or wild animals can sometimes be a problem at tipping over containers. I've seen people build metal frameworks to hold trash cans, and some finally just get or buy the kind of giant dumpsters that are behind retail and grocery stores.